Privacy Policy

MEI Research Corporation is strongly committed to your right to privacy and to taking steps designed to secure your personal and financial information. To earn your trust and confidence in our commitment, the intent of this policy is to fully disclose our privacy practices to you. We will only use your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. We encourage you to read our policy to understand what types of personal information we collect and how this information is used.

Your Consent

By using our site, you consent to the collection and use of your information as described in this Privacy Policy, which was last updated on May 08, 2009. Any changes to our Privacy Policy will be reflected on this page so that you are always aware of the information we collect and how we use it.

As part of our Privacy Policy, we address the following:

What personal information we collect

With whom your information is shared and how it is used

What choices you have over the collection and use of your information

Your ability to access, update or correct your information

The measures we take that are designed to protect your personal information

Additional information about online privacy and changes to our policy

What personal information we collect

General: MEI Research Corporation and its partners collect personal information necessary to respond to your requests for our customized products and services and to allow you to use the resources available on our website, including the creation and maintenance of a Customer Account and other services. Personal information includes, but is not limited to, name, physical address, email address, phone number, and any other information that itself identifies or, when tied to the above information, may identify you as a specific individual. MEI Research Corporation also uses order forms for you to order certain products. On such order forms, we collect your contact information, financial information (including credit card numbers) and demographic information.

Contests and Online Surveys: MEI Research Corporation and its partners frequently sponsor contests to give you the opportunity to win great prizes. Your participation in these contests is entirely optional. Information we collect for such contests can include contact information and demographic information. MEI Research Corporation also values the opinions and comments from all of our users, so we frequently conduct surveys online, via e-mail, or by telephone. Your participation in these surveys is entirely optional. Information we collect in online surveys will include general information on the use of our site and other demographic information, such as age and income bracket. Survey participants are anonymous unless otherwise stated in the survey.

Cookies: "Cookies" are small pieces of information that are stored by your browser on your computer's hard drive. We use cookies in several ways (and thousands of other sites are currently using them too!). Cookie files are used to better understand how you go through our website so that we may tailor your experience at our website. Cookies are also used to tell us whether you have visited our website previously, and to help us determine whether you came to our website from a particular Internet link or banner advertisement. Cookies can also be used to help you to save and retrieve passwords and other information and preferences you use on our website, saving you from having to re-enter this information upon every visit to our website. Cookies cannot and will not be used by us to retrieve any personal information about you from your computer that you have not previously and voluntarily provided to us. Most Web browsers automatically accept cookies, but if you prefer, you can edit your browser options to block them in the future. However, some of our features will not function if you do not accept cookies.

IP Addresses: When you connect to our website, we record your IP addresses and information on the type of operating system (e.g. Windows XP, Mac OSX) and browser software (e.g. Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape) you are using. This helps us to diagnose problems with our servers and for system administration. Your IP address is also used to help gather aggregated demographic information.

With whom your information is shared and how it is used

When you provide information to MEI Research Corporation, the information is stored in our databases, and such information is used by MEI Research Corporation in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Information we collect is used to tailor your experience at our site, to show you content that we think you might be interested in, and to display the content according to your preferences. We also use such personal information to send you information and promotional materials on us. Your contact information may also be used if it becomes necessary to contact you.

Although this Privacy Policy does not cover the information practices or policies of any other entities, we require that all of our partners agree not to use your personal information, except as fully disclosed to you or authorized by you.

Any information we collect may be shared with advertisers on an aggregate basis. In addition, we may from time to time hire a third party to act on our behalf for projects such as market research surveys and contest entry processing, and we will provide information to these third parties specifically for use in connection with these projects. Survey and contest participation is entirely optional. The information we provide to such third parties will be protected by a confidentiality agreement that will obligate the third party to use such information solely to complete the specific project.

In addition to the circumstances described above, we may disclose your information if required to do so by law, court order, as requested by other government or law enforcement authorities, or in the good faith belief that disclosure is otherwise necessary or advisable, including (without limitation) when we have reason to believe that disclosing the information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be causing interference with our rights or properties, whether intentionally or otherwise, or when anyone else could be harmed by such activities.

What choices you have over the collection and use of your information

As a user, customer, or contest entrant you will occasionally receive e-mail updates from us about important functionality changes, special offers from us and our partners, new MEI Research Corporation services and other noteworthy news items about us and our partners. We hope you will find these updates interesting and informative. Of course, if you would rather not receive them, just let us know by replying to one of the e-mails with "Remove" in the body of the e-mail or let our partners know by following their instructions. Our site also provides you the opportunity to opt-out of receiving such communications from us and our partners at the point where we request information from you. In other words, if you don't want us or our partners to send you e-mails about our or their business, just let us know. MEI Research Corporation reserves the right to limit registration to those who will accept emails and to those who will provide the requested information.

MEI Research Corporation provides you with the ability to receive e-mail subscriptions to various services we provide. If you elect to receive such e-mail subscriptions, you can opt-out of receiving future e-mails by logging in to your account and following the appropriate links.

Your ability to access, update or correct your information

At any time, you can update all of the information contained in your Customer Account by contacting us via e-mail or regular mail.

The security measures we take for the protection of your personal information

All order information you provide to us is transmitted using SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption. SSL is a widely used coding system that lets your browser automatically encrypt or scramble data before you send it to us. Transactions will not be permitted if your browser does not accept SSL encryption. Only authorized personnel from MEI Research Corporation or its partners can decode this information and such personnel will only do so in accordance with our Privacy Policy. In addition, to attempt to deter the theft of credit card numbers and other personal information residing in our system, we have installed secure "firewalls" and/or have implemented other security measures to help protect our systems against "hacker" break-ins. Additionally, all credit card numbers are encrypted in our system until either the customer or MEI Research Corporation requires the information.

Additional information about online privacy and changes to our policy

Please be aware that on our site we may have advertisements and links to other websites that may collect personal information about you. This Privacy Policy does not cover the information practices or policies of such websites. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of all such sites, as their policies may be materially different from our Privacy Policy. Any material changes in the way we use personal information will be described in future versions of this Privacy Policy. Of course, you may always submit concerns regarding our Privacy Policy or our privacy practices to us via e-mail or regular mail.

Please reference the Privacy Policy in your subject line. We will attempt to respond to all reasonable concerns or inquiries within five business days of receipt.